HJ Quex film materials in the Collection

The 1933 film Hitlerjunge Quex was directed by Hans Steinhoff and produced by Karl Ritter for Ufa.  As was discovered in the research for the book KARL RITTER  – HIS LIFE AND 'ZEITFILMS' UNDER NATIONAL SOCIALISM (© 2012 – 2014 by William A. Gillespie), Karl Ritter was instrumental in recommending the idea of the film to the Ufa studio, and when the project was approved, Hans Steinhoff promised to be Ritter's lifelong friend if he would assign Steinhoff to be the film's Director (See pp. 15 of the 2nd edition of the book for citation.)

LEFT: The unknown HJ boy, Jürgen Ohlsen, aged 15, who had never acted before; and starred in the title role after child star Hermann Braun, shown BELOW LEFT, was forced to drop out due to illness after the production was underway. Braun later starred in the two top Luftwaffe war films, DIII88 and Kampfgeschwader Lützow, for which we have the original German and other foreign posters in our Poster Gallery. He died in WWII  combat as a Luftwaffe flyer in January 1945.

Ohlsen had read the novel of Hitlerjunge Quex and  was familiar with the story when he and his parents were approached by Ufa to take on the role. After some disagreements about his fee, his parents agreed to their boy's participation.

BELOW RIGHT, Hitler  Youth Leader Baldur von Schirach, who penned the words to the song  composed for the film, Our Flag flutters before us. The song was an instant hit amongst Hitler Youth members and became their official anthem.

Although film histories generally agree that the late Weimar 1932 produced U-Boat feature film Morgenrot  by Ufa placed the studio in good stead with the new Hitler government in early 1933, it is without doubt that its next feature film Hitlerjunge Quex -- the first  feature film produced by Ufa during the Third Reich -- cemented the relationship in step with the wishes of the government and Dr. Goebbels.  Proof of this close working relationship is clearly evident in the first announcement of the film in the 1933/1934 Ufa season preview book and then in the extremely rare 36 page "Werberatschlag" (cinema owner's guide to the film's promotional materials) which are both found in the Collection.

In a book distributed to cinema owners as a confidential report by the Ufa film studio on the state of their forthcoming annual season, they remarked on the environment in which the movie industry found itself in the new tumultuous year of 1933 when Hitler became Chancellor:

" The political gatherings, the parades, rallies, propaganda excursions, processions, political school evenings, radio broadcasts etc. have claimed a considerable amount of the general public and the otherwise always cinema-minded youth. So politics, in all it's various manifestations, has become a tough competitor to the cinema and entertainment industry. It would be however completely false to become resigned to this. "

– pg. IV - V, Vorwort;  Die Ufa Thester 1933/34, Richtlinen für das Theater-Geschäft, Berlin 1933.

Ufa proudly offered cinema owners it's new line-up of 1933/34 feature films, including Hitlerjunge Quex. The 1933/1934 Ufa film season program booklet stated in its first paragraph:

" In confident trust in the government of the Reich, with such an outstanding,  success-–initiated, economic lift of the German people, by providing extraordinary artistic, financial and technical resources,  [this] has enabled us at Ufa to offer our esteemed clientele the 1933/34 film distribution program of 27 feature, cultural and short films. "

HJ Quex had not only the famous poster available, but film stills (we have four original German stills and one original 1941 French still), and a 4 page pamphlet and an 8 page small format newspaper on the film were produced for wide distribution.  The 4 page pamphlet and the 8 page newspaper (Opfergeist) are both found in our Collection, as is the Ufaton Verlag's sheet music for the new song which became a national anthem for the Hitler Youth. 

We have published the first–ever book devoted exclusively to this film in either English or German. It is 403 pages long, with 63 B&W illustrations/photos, 4 colour plates, and 308 footnotes.  Some 115 pages are  a word-for-word facsimile translation of the original German language into English of the Ufa film studio's promotional and advertising material produced in late 1933 for German cinema owners and their audiences. The vast majority of this material has never been available to readers before. 

The book is available now to all Australian customers via our Book & Poster Store on this website, and to all other customers  worldwide via International Historic Films, in Chicago, Illinois, USA.